2.1 Key themes⤒🔗

• Jesus Christ taught his disciples to call God their “Father”.
• When you become a child of God, it changes all your relationships:
  • God the Father adopts you as his son.
  • Jesus Christ becomes your elder brother.
  • The Holy Spirit leads you.
  • You are part of a new family, the church.
  • You have peace in this world.

2.2 Romans 8:14-17←⤒🔗

^8:14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God.

^8:15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery leading again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, 'Abba, Father.'

^8:16 The Spirit himself bears witness to our spirit that we are God’s children.

^8:17 And if children, then heirs(namely, heirs of God and also fellow heirs with Christ) – if indeed we suffer with him so we may also be glorified with him.

© NET Bible

2.3 Child of God!←⤒🔗

In the time of the Old Testament, believers spoke about God in various ways. For example, they called him:

• “Lord”
• “My God”
• “Mighty One”
• “Holy One”
• “God of heaven”
• “God of Israel”

But Jesus taught his disciples to speak to God in a new way. He said that they should call him: “Our Father in heaven” (Matthew 6:9). This was a new way of speaking to God. By calling God “Father”, the disciples were saying that they were God’s own children!

Today we are used to calling God our “Father”. But we should not forget that it is a very special privilege. Only someone who believes in Jesus Christ can call God their Father. Without Jesus Christ, we would not be children of God. We would only be children of Adam, the first human. Just like our first parents Adam and Eve, we followed Satan rather than God. We were enemies of God (Romans 5:6-10).

That is why John says: “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1).

When you believe in Jesus Christ, you become God’s own child. This changes all your relationships:

• your relationship with God the Father,
• your relationship with God the Son (Jesus Christ)
• your relationship with the Holy Spirit
• your relationship with other believers
• your relationship with this world

Let us look at each of these relationships, one by one.

2.4 Adopted by the Father←⤒🔗

Jesus Christ is the “only-begotten Son of God”. That means that he is the only Person who has always been God’s Son. But when we believe in Jesus Christ, God adopts us to be his sons. He does not see us as children of Adam anymore. He sees us as his own children. He loves us, just as he loves his Son Jesus Christ.

In the passage that we have read (Romans 8:14-16), all believers are called “sons of God”. It does not say “sons and daughters of God”. Why is that? It is because, in the time of the Bible (and in many cultures today), the sons were the heirs of the family. The sons would one day receive everything that belongs to their father. God calls every believer – man and woman – a “son” and an “heir”. He promises that, one day, he will give his kingdom to us (Luke 12:32)!

Do you see what a wonderful gift it is that God gave you, to make you his child? You have the right to call him “Abba, Father”. In the time of the Bible, “Abba” was the name that a small child used to speak to his father. By calling his father “Abba”, the child showed that he trusted his father and that he felt close to his father. This is how you can speak to God!

2.5 A brother of Jesus Christ←⤒🔗

We have the same Father as Jesus. That makes us his brothers. He is glad to have us as his brothers. He is not ashamed of it (Hebrews 2:11). In many ways, Jesus Christ is just like us. He is God, but he also became a real human being[1. He knows exactly how we feel when we are facing the challenges and the temptations of life. He also faced them (Hebrews 2:17-18).

Jesus is not only our brother: he is our elder brother. This means that he is our leader. He is our example in everything. God’s plan for us is to become more and more like Jesus, his firstborn (Romans 8:29).

As our elder brother, Jesus Christ also takes care of us. He intercedes for us with his Father (Romans 8:34). He is preparing a place for us in the Father’s home (John 14:2).

2.6 Led by the Holy Spirit←⤒🔗

In our passage we read three times of the Holy Spirit! Clearly, without the Holy Spirit we could not have called God “Father.” It is because the Holy Spirit gave us the new birth that we are now God’s children. He also helps us to know and believe that we are God’s children. That is why he is called the “Spirit of sonship”. 

By ourselves, we would have been afraid of God. Just like Adam and Eve, we would want to hide from God (Genesis 3:8). But the Holy Spirit helps us to know that God has loved us and forgiven us through Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit gives us the trust to come to God and to call him “Abba, Father”.

God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ, are in heaven. But they sent the Holy Spirit to be with us. Through the Spirit, they are with us (John 14:16, 23). A child of God is in a close relationship with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. 

2.7 Part of a new family←⤒🔗

Believers have the same God as their Father. Therefore, they are brothers and sisters to each other. As brothers and sisters, we are commanded to love each other. We are also commanded to meet together as a church family.

How can you really know that you are a child of God? In 1 John 5:1 we find the answer:

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well.

This verse gives us two ways in which we can know we are children of God:

1. When we believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God who came to save us.
2. When we love God’s other children.

2.8 Peace in this world←⤒🔗

Jesus teaches us to trust God our Father for everything that we need in this world: “So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them” (Matthew 6:31-32). 

Yes, life in this world is not always easy. Sometimes you will suffer because you are a child of God (1 John 3:1,13). But you can have peace, because you have an Almighty Father who takes care of you. He has counted even the hairs on your head (Matthew 10:30). He will give you everything you need for this life and for eternal life. The proof of this is that he was even willing to give his own, beloved Son for you (Romans 8:32).

A good father will never abandon his children. God is the best Father. He will not abandon you. Even when you go through great suffering, and even when you fall into sin, he is with you. This should give you great peace in this world.